- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia was announced on Monday with no major changes. While fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel, both of whom missed the recent Asia Cup with injuries returned, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja missed out and was replaced with Axar Patel. Youngsters Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan, who played in the Asia Cup, were omitted. Rohit Sharma was picked as the captain while KL Rahul will be his deputy.
While the batting department included the likes of Virat Kohli, who slammed a hundred in the Asia Cup; Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik were among the wicket-keeper-batters. Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin were among the spin bowlers besides Patel. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh were the two other pacers. Hardik Pandya was the leading all-rounder.
The Indian selectors also chose four standby players, including veteran seamer Mohammed Shami; all-rounder Deepak Chahar; spinner Bishnoi and batter Shreyas Iyer.
The selectors also announced the squad for India’s upcoming T20 international series against Australia and South Africa. India will play three T20 internationals against Australia on September 20, 23 and 25 and three against South Africa on September 28, October 2 and 4.
India’s selection for the T20 World Cup became a hot topic for discussion after the Men in Blue produced a poor show in the Asia Cup where they failed to make the final. The absence of Shami was criticised while calls for including Umran Malik grew stronger.
India will launch their campaign at the World Cup against arch-rivals Pakistan in Melbourne on October 23. They also have South Africa and Bangladesh in the group besides two other teams that are yet to be finalised.
Last year, the former world champions lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in their opening game at the T20 World Cup and could not make the semi-finals.
India squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Standby players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, and Deepak Chahar
